Seeing as Craig Custance wrote a whole article about the line changes for tonight's game there really shouldn't be any surprises for you. Here's what you'll see tonight when the Thrashers host the Bruins (on SportSouth if you can't make it down to Philips:

Kovalchuk- White- Hossa
Kozlov- Perrin- Recchi
Thorburn- Holik- Dupuis
Boulton- Slater- Larsen

Havelid- Enstrom
Klee- Exelby
Zhitnik- McCarthy

Hedberg
Lehtonen

Bryan Little has been reassigned to Chicago, Mark Popovic is recovering from a sore ankle (he skated today and could probably play if he was needed) and Darren Haydar (who cleared waivers) will sit this one out.

I talked to Slava Kozlov about his new linemates and his new teammate and he's pretty excited. As he put it, Mark Recchi has been an elite level player and few players make it past the 500 goal mark in their careers. Kozlov himself has had a very long and productive career and he's almost 200 goals behind Recchi. Darren Eliot pointed out that Perrin's line now consists of three Cup winners. When I mentioned it to Kozlov he joked that now they need to find two Cup-winning defensemen to play with.

On to the game.

The Thrashers have beaten the Bruins in their last six meetings and have a marginally better penalty kill than Boston and a slightly better offense. After that all of the numbers lean Boston's way. The Bruins have quietly exceeded all expectations and climbed to fourth in the East despite a rash of injuries to key players like Fernandez, Thomas and Bergeron. They're scoring goals and they clog up the middle of the ice just as well as the Devils. They're incredibly stingy, which makes for a lot of close games. The Bruins have lost 10 games in regulation time and half of those losses were by a goal. Their defense doesn't carry the puck much but they aren't afraid to get involved in the offense. Zdeno Chara has 18 points and Dennis Wideman is riding a seven-game point streak. The Bruins win and lose most of their games in the first period. They're a +9 in goals in the first and pretty even the rest of the game, whereas the Thrashers are -10 in the first and +1 in the third (which is impressive for a team with a -16 goal differential).

Believe it or not the Thrashers are 6-0-0 when leading after the first period and the Bruins are a terrible comeback team, so if the Thrashers can weather the storm and get out of the first with a lead they have a good chance of beating the Bruins. They'll have to contend with Alex Auld though, and he's only given up two goals on 71 shots as a Bruin. Who knows- maybe he'll be thrown off by a low shot total after being shelled in his first two games. The Thrashers aren't likely to fire 40 shots his way.

Tonight also marks the return of two former Thrashers to Atlanta. Marc Savard hasn't done particularly well against the Thrashers since leaving and Glen Metropolit is facing the Thrashers for the first time as a Bruin. Metro has 12 points in 29 games and has gotten some quality ice time since Bergeron got hurt.

Overall the stats favor Boston, but this Thrashers team is primed for a win and has a new look to it. I think the Kozlov/Perrin/Recchi line has the potential to put up a lot of points and I'm expecting big things from Kovy tonight. He has averaged more than a point per game against the Bruins over the course of his career and he's never had a problem beating Boston goaltenders. I'm nervous, but I feel a Thrashers win. Either way it should be a good test against an underrated opponent.

For Don Waddell's brief media Q&A click here to launch the video.